Hello, my loves. I’m back once again with a palette review for you guys. I know what you may be thinking right now and I agree with you.

I don’t need another contouring product but alas – Tarte got to me. I recently got the Tarteist Contour Palette because I easily cave like that. To be honest, I was actually thinking long and hard whether to go for the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani Blush Palette or this one. The decision wasn’t easy and there was no way I was getting two palettes in one month. I am quite disciplined with my expenses.

I know this product has been out for a couple of months in the States and in Canada but living in Asia means we are kinda delayed with some releases. Thus, this delayed reaction.

Packaging

The medium-sized, round packaging is something that I love about it. The gold colour paired with the black lettering (thank goodness they didn’t go for their usual purple) also made it look classy. It’s also a bit heavy thanks to the metal base of the palette, giving it a luxurious feel to it.

The top has a gold tin foil feel with on the top but a certain bounce to it kinda makes me think of faux leather. I could be wrong though. I do find it pretty although I doubt the shine will last. Also, it’s very prone to scratches so if you’re particular about that, you’ll really have to be careful with this palette. Especially if you plant to bring it with you when you travel.

One thing I can say that I don’t like about the packaging is how the pans were positioned. Yes, I love the round palette and its size but I just find the pans too close to each other. If you’re using a full-sized brush, there is always the danger of getting some of the bristles into the other pans.

This won’t be a problem if you’re using travel-sized brushes though and if you’re careful.

Since the hype over this restaurant has been off the charts recently, I thought I’d give it a try with the husband and give you guys my honest, no-fuss review of the place.

Also, full disclosure: We do love dim sum and a great deal on food is enough to get me really excited over a restaurant. 😉 We also paid for this meal so I am in no way bound, expected, or persuaded by the restaurant to wax poetic over their food and service.

Since it’s a Sunday and I’ve been craving for dim sum as per usual, we made our way to the restaurant which was located inside the Pullman Hotel in KLCC.

FYI: The Pullman KLCC is formerly known as Prince Hotel.

Parking was a breeze and only took us a few minutes. Tai Zi Heen is located at the hotel’s 2nd level and from the 5th floor parking area, you’ll have to go down to the lobby first before taking a different lift or hopping on to the escalator.

We were seated right away. We had reservations (which is actually required) so this wasn’t that much of a shocker but I did expect the restaurant to have more people. Based on my experience here in KL, Malaysians love a good deal as much as I do.

Hello, my loves. Today, we’re back with another skincare review on a line that I only finished trying out recently.

I’m talking about Japanese brand Kosé’s Sekkisei line which I used right after trying out the Mentholatum Botanics range. I wanted to post this entry sooner, to be honest. But seeing as I only have one face, I do take a while in reviewing products. And I did promise you guys that you only get quality posts (that I would work hard on) in this blog, right? 😉

The Sekkisei line has been around for 30 years, this line boasts of an age-old ‘beautiful, translucent skin recipe’ that is said to be gentle yet effective in brightening and evening-out one’s skin tone.

You may remember that I got a pretty big package like other bloggers from my friend Tammy‘s community – The Butterfly Project.

Inside the humungous box filled with balloons was the Sekkisei trial kit which is perfect for traveling. As someone who travels a lot, I really do appreciate it when companies make such sets. It makes it easier to pack and unpack when you have everything in one to-go bag. Continue reading →

We’re finally done with the Paris leg of our trip and we’re now in the UK! I’m so happy about getting through my backlog, bit by bit.

Today’s post is about one of my favourite bits of our Europe trip in 2015. This happens in the middle of our London leg but I opted to write about it first due to two reasons: 1.) It will be easier to link it to different posts and 2.) The first one is something I just made up the real and only reason is that I’m just hella excited to write about this one. So prepare yourselves. This is going to be a lengthy post.

If you know me personally or if you’ve been following the blog for a while now, you probably already know that I’m a humungous Harry Potter fan. Yes, I’m a grown woman and no, I don’t care what you think. It came out when I was young, okay?!

It’s weird though how this isn’t my first time in Europe yet I only got to go to the studios during this trip. I guess timing really is one of life’s most important factors. That, and a companion (husband, in my case) willing to spend all day with you at a studio and watch you drool over things while being such an insufferable know-it-all (see what I did there?) and the ultimate fan girl.

Before I move along, I just have to thank Alvin for being such a great husband. We even marathon-ed all 8 movies prior to the trip just so he can be up to date with HP knowledge. I really can’t believe he only saw one of the movies and he can’t even remember which one! Forgave him for not reading the books though. His interests do lay in the non-fiction section of the bookstore.

Though I must say, he did look like he was enjoying himself in the studio in the end. Or… was he just humouring me?

Getting there

The Making of Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour is often advertised to be in London but it’s actually in Leavesden – an area that is actually 20 miles Northwest of Central London.

We took a train from from London Euston station to Watford Junction and the journey took a little over an hour so do take this into consideration! Upon arrival in Watford, we took a double decker bus operated by Mullany’s Coaches to the studio. The bus stops right in front of the train station and is decked in Harry Potter decal so you won’t miss it. The bus ride takes about 10 minutes and will cost you GBP2.50 for a return ticket.

Tickets

We booked our tickets through the official website months in advance to make sure we get slots. The studio does not sell tickets on-site. So, no walk-ins.

You will get your booking confirmation via e-mail which you can exchange for actual tickets upon your arrival. There are ticket counters right outside the studio. You also have the option to have your tickets mailed in advance to you for a hassle-free entry.

Our tickets amounted to GBP85.85 in total. The breakdown is as follows:

Adult tickets: GBP33.00 each (GBP66.00)

Paperback souvenir guidebook: GBP9.95

Digital guides: GBP4.95 each (GBP9.90)

Tip: If you’ve read most of the books, the digital guides may end up being useless to you. It’s pretty cool though. It has audio and video so you can watch some behind the scenes stuff. But it ended up being more useful to my husband. So reserve the guides for people in your group who are not that much of a die-hard fan. As for the paperback souvenir guide, get it. It’s a steal for the price and is an exclusive piece of merchandise from the studio. You can see me talking about it here at 20:30.

When booking your tickets, you get to choose what time you want to start your tour. This is the studio’s effort to do some crowd control since it can get pretty congested. I suggest you go in the morning since people tend to stay longer and the afternoons will most likely leave the studio full with all the people from the morning tours, still lingering and taking photos. Our schedule was at 9:30 and we arrived to this:

Not to worry. The line moves pretty fast. While waiting, you also get to see the cupboard under the stairs. It’s enough to get anybody who’s read the novels or seen the movies excited.

The Great Hall

You will then be ushered in to a theatre room where a message from the cast will greet you. Cameras weren’t allowed so sorry if there are no photos of that. After the short film, guests will be guided towards the doors of the Great Hall.

You can just feel the excitement in the air as kids dressed as Hogwarts students and adults who wished they could do the same and not be judged for it await for the doors to open.

Tip: Go on your birthday. They would normally pick you to open the enormous double doors and be the first to go inside.

Confession: I almost pretended like it was my birthday just to be the one to get to open the doors. Knowing that my husband may not look at me the same way again, stopped me. In the end, the privilege went to a kid dressed in Hogwarts robes with a Gryffindor scarf.

I did not scream nor run as I entered, I promise. I was able to retain my poise that’s normally reserved for diplomatic events that I attend with my husband. I was the perfect model of calm and cool until I saw these:

And that’s when I started gushing and pointing at stuff. The fake food supposedly prepared by House Elves, the costumes worn by the cast (Tip: Look for the one worn by Daniel Radcliffe while filming Sorcerer’s Stone), the utensils – everything just lives up to expectation!

Hello, my loves. Entries have been delayed as – once again – the husband and I have been traveling (typing this on the plane back to KL, to be honest). Alvin had to go to Manila for some meetings at the home office and I decided to tag along so I can do some errands and meet up with my friends. (A post on this later, maybe?)

But enough with the excuses/update and on to the topic of this post!

Before we left for Manila on the last week of February, I was trying out Mentholatum‘s new range of cleansers called Botanics.

The launch of this new range was quite timely since I have been experiencing some changes when it came to my skin. I’ve always had Sahara-dry skin but recently, I have been having on and off oily days.

I even had yet another break out on my chin in early February. Eeep!

It was right around that time that I decided to try out the Botanics range to see which one will work for me.

They have quite a wide range of products to deal with every skin type. The cleansers themselves come in three types:

Disclaimers and Disclosures

This blog is personal and will always remain to be.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are exclusively those of the author’s. They do not, in any way, represent thoughts, opinions, policies, and the direction of the Philippine government, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the media outlets I used to work for, and even that of my husband's.

Come to think of it, our opinions differ – a lot.

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Sponsored content will always be labeled. However, sponsorship of any kind will not affect my views on each product or service I review. If it's bad, I'll still say it is.